Thursday, 23 August 2012

First Video Evidence Of Tank On Tank Combat In Syria

As I've written previously the FSA appear to have captured a significant number of tanks, but as yet there's only been one filmed example of them actually using a tank, attacking a number of checkpoints and outposts in Rastan. A series of videos have now been posted that claims to show the al-Farouq Battalion using a T-62 tank to destroy a Syrian Army tank in Talbiseh, Homs.

The first video shows the al-Farouq Battalion preparing to for the attack, with a T-62 tank, a truck mounted DShK, a truck mounted ZU-23-2, and a third truck mounted weapon that appears to be a large cannon of some sort

The second video in the sequence shows a T-62 tank firing, followed by the camera panning over to show a smoking tracked vehicle. I believe it's the the tank used is same vehicle as the previous video as the partly obscured white square you can see in the second video is also on the first video, just very hard to see

There's also a third video that was posted an hour later on the same channel showing a destroyed tank, but it's unclear if the tank is the same one in the second video. As I posted at the start of July the al-Farouq Battalion has shown off at least 3 T-62 tanks under their control in the past, but to my knowledge this is the first time there's been any video evidence of any FSA battalion using the tank of any kind to attack another tank. Unlike the previous example of a tank being using in Rastan this appears to be part of a carefully planned operation, and the presence of truck mounted guns may suggest the FSA are beginning to plan operations with tanks supported by anti-aircraft defences, which would mark a significant development.